Shana Wall and Jennifer McCall eliminated from 'The Amazing Race'

By Christopher Rocchio, 12/03/2007

Shana Wall and Jennifer McCall made an ill-fated wrong turn and couldn't stop bickering long enough to correct it in a timely manner, causing the friends from Los Angeles, CA to become the fifth team eliminated from The Amazing Race's twelfth season during last night's broadcast of the CBS reality series.

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"I know we have differences about right and wrong, but it doesn't matter to me," said Jennifer following her teams' ouster. "Shana and I are always going to be friends. This experience will never leave us. We'll always have that."

The Amazing Race 12's fifth episode began with the seven remaining teams leaving Hotel De Ville in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which served as the fourth leg's Pit Stop and required the teams take a mandatory rest period.

"Brother/Sister" team Azaria and Hendekea Azene -- the first team to reach the race's fourth Pit Stop -- were the first to depart at 6:45AM. Azaria and Hendekea opened their clue and learned they needed to fly over 3,000 miles to Vilnius, Lithuania. Once they landed, they had to drive one of the marked cars to St. Ann's Church to find their next clue. Teams had to use an official airline ticketing office to book their flights.

Azaria and Hendekea and Nathan and Jennifer were the first to arrive at Ouagadougou Airport, and learned the ticket office wasn't open yet but found an Internet cafe to asses their options. The two teams learned the earliest flight to Paris -- where they could connect to a flight to Vilnius -- departed at 10:45PM with plenty of seats available on Air France.

As all of the teams quickly caught-up and found themselves in the Internet cafe, Ron suggested he and Christina take a trip to Air France's ticket office in town to try and find an earlier flight to Paris. The other teams tried to tell Ron the office would be closed, but they were wrong and it was open. However Ron's sour disposition once again highlighted the communication problems he's having with Christina.

"Christina is somewhat naive," commented Ron after she was willing to take whatever the ticket agent had to offer without question. "I want to basically teach my daughter how to deal with various kinds of people."

With Ron insisting he didn't want to wait until they landed in Paris to book a flight to Vilnius, the Air France ticket agent gave them tickets from Paris to Vilnius, with the flight arriving in the Lithuanian city at 2:10PM. The ticket agent assured Ron and Christina it was the "earliest" flight from Paris to Vilnius.

Shana and Jennifer were the next team to leave the Pit Stop, departing at 7:44AM, followed by "Newly Dating Couple" Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin, who at 7:59AM were the last team to leave the Pit Stop. On the way to the airport, Shana and Jennifer immediately began to argue about whether the airport was called Ouagadougou Airport or Burkina Faso Airport.

"Shana and I need to be a unified team to win this race," said Jennifer before regretting the team's decision to use the U-Turn on the previous leg. "I feel extremely bad about U-Turning [Jason Widener and Lorena Segura]. I cannot intentionally hurt somebody or do something that I'm not 100% certain about."

Using the Internet, Nick and Don and Azaria and Hendekea both learned of a 1:25PM flight from Paris to Vilnius. Not knowing where the two teams were going, Shana and Jennifer decided to follow Azaria and Hendekea and Nick and Don to the Air France office just in time to see Ron and Christina leaving. Christina commented her team got a "great flight."

As the other teams began to arrive at the ticket office, Nick told the ticket agent he wanted the earliest flight possible while adding he wanted the clerk to give all the other teams later flights. However Nick and Don's ticket agent didn't speak English very well while Azaria and Hendekea's agent did, and the "Brother/Sister" team booked seats on the 1:25PM flight from Amsterdam to Vilnius.

Nick and Don weren't as lucky, as the agent told them all the seats on the 1:25PM flight were booked and gave them seats on a flight that arrived in Vilnius at 5:35PM. However seconds later, the same clerk gave Nathan and Jennifer and Shana and Jennifer tickets on the 1:25PM flight that she had previously told Nick and Don was completely booked. Needless to say, Nick and Don weren't pleased when they heard the news from Nathan and Jennifer, but they were still able to change their flight.

While all of the remaining teams tried to book the earliest flights to Vilnius, Shana and Jennifer bickered with one another. Shana said it was obvious Jennifer was "annoyed" about her decision to use the U-Turn on Jason and Lorena. Jennifer told Shana to "think it out a little better" when trying to be strategic.

All of the teams were on the same Air France flight that departed at 10:45PM. From there, Azaria and Hendekea; Nathan and Jennifer; and Shana and Jennifer took a flight to Amsterdam, which brought them to Vilnius at 1:25PM. Kynt and Vyxsin; TK and Rachel; and Nick and Don took a flight from Paris to Frankfurt, and then from Frankfurt to Vilnius, touching down at 1:35PM. Ronald and Christina went from Paris to Prague, and landed in Vilnius at 2:10PM.

The 1:25PM flight landed and all three teams tried to find their marked cars as the 1:35PM flight quickly touched down. Nathan and Jennifer easily found their car, however Azaria and Hendekea and Shana and Jennifer struggled, allowing Nick and Don and TK and Rachel to pass them. Shana and Jennifer and Azaria and Hendekea eventually found their vehicles, followed by Kynt and Vyxsin, who wisely bought a map. Ronald and Christina also made a wise decision and paid for a taxi to lead them to the church.

Leaving the airport, Nathan and Jennifer and Shana and Jennifer took a wrong turn and got completely lost on the Lithuanian city streets. Nick and Don were the first to arrive at St.Ann's Church, where they were met by a Roadblock.

In this Roadblock, one team member had to choose a local Lithuanian woman working outdoors, who would give them a package and tell them where to take it. Traveling on foot through the confusing streets of the Old Quarter, the team member would then have to deliver the package to the correct person, who would then hand them their second package and one of four final destinations, which would be delivered for a clue.

Nick, Kynt, Hendekea and Ron decided to do the Roadblock for their respective teams. Unable to find the church in their car, Nathan and Jennifer decided to get there on foot but were discouraged to learn from a local merchant that they were still a 20-minute walk away. They decided to run.

"This is so crappy," said Jennifer.

Shana and Jennifer were also incredibly lost -- but they remained in their vehicle -- a decision that could have cost them their lives when Jennifer almost didn't get out of the way of a bus barreling down the street. Shana freaked, and Jennifer asked her to please relax.

"Oh my God a bus almost just killed me!" said a slightly melodramatic Shana from the backseat, mocking Jennifer. "I'm sorry! I should relax!?"

Nathan and Jennifer finally found the church on foot, but not before he blamed her for stressing him out non-stop.

TK decided to do the Roadblock for he and Rachel, and Jennifer decided to do it for she and Nathan. After wasting time arguing about not wanting to waste time to ask for directions, Shana and Jennifer found the church , but it was only after seeing Nathan and Jennifer find it first.

While Nick had an early lead in the Roadblock, he had a difficult time finding the salon where he needed to drop-off his second package, allowing Kynt and Vyxsin; TK and Rachel; Christina, Ron and Ron's hernia; Nathan and Jennifer; and Azaria and Hendekea to all complete the Roadblock in that order. They all opened the next clue and learned they had to drive to the town of Rumsiskes and find Lietuvos Liaudies Buities Muziejus, a Lithuanian outdoor ethnographic museum.

"Every team has passed by," said a downtrodden Don when Shana and Jennifer arrived. "I look at it, we could very possibly be eliminated today."

Don added his confidence was "pretty sunk" since it took Nick "a few hours" to complete the Roadblock. Determined to "stay in this game," Shana finished the Roadblock just ahead of Nick.

Kynt and Vyxsin were the first team to arrive at the museum and open their next clue, which told them to scour the village for a Travelocity Roaming Gnome hidden among 100 Lithuanian gnomes that looked very similar. They quickly found their gnome followed by TK and Rachel and Ron and Christina. The teams were then met by a Detour, and had to choose between "Count Down" or "Step Up."

In "Count Down," teams would have to make their way through the traditional Mid-Summer's Festival to a marked section of picket fence. Once there, they'd have to count every picket that makes up the fence and then reveal their calculation to a villager. If they were correct, they would receive their next clue. In "Step Up," teams had to stilt-walk along a marked course to the finish line. If a person fell off before reaching the end, that person had to go back to the beginning and start again. When they reached the end, they would receive their next clue.

Kynt and Vyxsin, TK and Rachel and Ron and Christina all chose "Step Up," a decision some regretted.

"This is going to be tougher than we think," commented Kynt.

He was right and decided not to mess around on stilts anymore, switching to "Count Down." Nathan and Jennifer also decided to do "Count Down." TK and Christina both completed the stilt course and waited for their partners. Rachel made it first and she and TK opened their next clue, which instructed them to make their way on foot to Aukstaitija Windmill, the fifth leg's Pit Stop.

Similar to Kynt and Vyxsin, Azaria and Hendekea initially chose "Step Up" but had trouble with the stilts and switched to "Count Down" just as Kynt and Vyxsin finished correctly counting the 717 pickets. TK and Rachel were the first to arrive at the Pit Stop, followed by Kynt and Vyxsin. Despite several spills of his stilts while battling his hernia, Ron crossed the "Step Up" finish line.

"I'm so proud of my dad. He's my Superman," commented Christina, as she and Ron were the third team to reach the Pit Stop.

Nathan and Jennifer had all sorts of counting problems with "Count Down" and incorrectly guessed the number of pickets. Nathan was counting out loud and kept messing Jennifer up, which she criticized him for. With his frustration at a boiling point, Nathan called Jennifer a "bitch," which wasn't too well-received.

"We've got to do stilts... I'm not counting that again," said Nathan, as he and Jennifer switched to "Step Up."

Azaria and Hendekea quickly counted the pickets and were the fourth team to reach the Pit Stop. Nathan and Jennifer had a much easier time with "Step Up" -- presumably because they didn't have to work together -- and were the fifth team to reach the Pit Stop.

Battling for the final spot at the Pit Stop, Nick and Don and Shana and Jennifer both did "Count Down," with Nick and Don having a slight lead. However Nick was incorrectly counting all of the fence posts and gates. While it seemed like a great chance to overtake Nick and Don, Shana and Jennifer instead argued, with Shana accusing Jennifer of not developing a good enough strategy to complete the challenge.

"You just go ahead and count it and if we're wrong, it's all on you," Shana told Jennifer.

Rather than restarting his count, Nick instead kept counting and then simply subtracted the fence posts and gates to arrive at the correct number of 717. Nick and Don were the sixth team to reach the Pit Stop, eliminating Shana and Jennifer.

"This race means so much to me," said Jennifer. "I'm just so disappointed and so hurt that we got eliminated."

"We're both really sad. We come from a comfortable life where we get manicures and pedicures and facials," added Shana. "Then you come here and all of that goes out the window. I'm just amazed about what we accomplished."

The Amazing Race 12's next episode will air Sunday, December 9 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.